Jazz up crate planters

Attractive upcycling idea for old wooden crates

If you enjoy growing your own plants, you don’t actually need a garden because you can also grow your own herbs, vegetables and flowering plants on a balcony or roof terrace: it’s a concept called urban gardening. All you need is a crate planter, edding acrylic spray paint and permanent markers plus our instructions detailing what to do, step by step. If you use an old, discarded crate, you’ll also be doing something good for the environment at the same time! The paint spray provides excellent coverage, has a short drying time and is perfect for designing objects of all kinds – whether they’re for indoor or outdoor use.

Categories: Creative garden ideas
Spring
Upcycling & DIY hacks
Products: Permanent markers
Permanent spray
Materials: Wood
Difficulty: A bit more challenging
Downloads: Images (ZIP)

Step-by-step

Step 1

You can see everything you need in this photo. For spraying, you will need edding 5200 permanent spray in a spray colour of your choice. In our example, we’ve used white (colour code 922), neon green (964), light grey (925) and mild mint (928). You will also need edding 400 and 3000 permanent markers in black.

Step 2

First, clean the wooden crate and remove any unevenness using the sandpaper.

Step 3

Before you spray, make sure your work area is well protected by covering it with film or paper. In our Spray basics section, we’ve got important tips to help you achieve the perfect spraying technique. We recommend you spray at a distance of approx. 25 cm in a criss-cross motion to ensure as even coverage as possible. First, spray on the white paint then let the surface dry thoroughly.

Step 4

Once dry, use film to mask off the part of the crate you want to remain white. Now it’s the turn of the spray in mild mint. Leave to dry.

Step 5

A narrow strip in neon green will give the mint-coloured area a defined border, creating an attractive contrast with the white. To achieve this, also mask off the mint-coloured area except for a narrow strip which you then spray in neon green. Leave everything to dry thoroughly.

Step 6

To finish, you can use the permanent marker to label your crate planter in whatever way you see fit. By masking off individual sections of colour, you can keep creating new designs. In our photo, you can see a design using triangles in various shades (e.g. in mild mint and light grey).

Step 7

What’s growing here? To avoid getting confused later on about which herb is which, you can fashion plant labels from bits of wood and label them using the edding 400 permanent marker. Its fine tip will ensure good legibility.